


Lightning strike

by Jisungs_aegyo



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluffyfest, I hate that I can only post cheesy stuff, M/M, Rated for swearing, This ship always pulls me back in, everyone is legal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 07:24:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11846748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jisungs_aegyo/pseuds/Jisungs_aegyo
Summary: Percy thinks he's a narcissist.





	Lightning strike

Percy can't help but think that maybe, maybe he's become a little narcisistic since the war ended. 

Percy's used to going about his day at camp, helping with training, and leading the campfires whenever he gets the chance. He goes out to sneak the campers the greasiest pizza him and Annabeth can find. Right, Annabeth. He'd sometimes miss the dynamic they'd had as a couple, but Annabeth and himself agreed, the love wasn't there the way they thought it was.

But now, they were best friends! And having Annabeth Chase as your best friend was about as wild as a demi-gods life could get.

But back onto Percy's narcissism.

He's thinking about it one day, walking aimlessly by the strawberry field, when a pale brunette appears yards away under a tree.  
"Hey, Jackson!"  
Nico waved to him, jogging over. Some would say he'd smiled, but only a little before closing their distance.  
"Hey Neeks, what's up?"

And there it was, in human form, the reason Percy believed himself to be a narcissist.

Percy couldn't get enough of the way Nico said his name. Every time he said it, Percy would suddenly feel big, like, he could do anything, big.  
He felt confident and sure that he was capable of everything and anything.

"Hazel and Frank are in town for a visit. They wanna see if you all would wanna sneak into town to hang out."

The taller boy grinned at the idea of a night on the town with his closer friends.  
"The others are invited too, obviously, but they want it to just be the Seven of you," Nico continued, walking alongside Percy, just as aimless.  
"And me too, of course~." He drawled on. The boy grinned, chuckling a little.  
"Of course, can't leave our sweet baby Nico out!" The brunette besides Percy wanted to laugh and appreciate the idea that Nico was no longer as serious and foreboding as he once was years ago, but he still liked that people were continuously intimidated by him because of how flighty he could be. 

So kept the act up and punched Percy in the shoulder.  
"I'm 21 Percy, quit babying me." Percy knew the whole thing about Nico's image and he HATED it.  
"Ughhhh, don't remind me. That means I'm turning 25 this year. " percy groaned loudly, dramatically throwing his arms behind his head.  
"Ha, ha, very funny Jackson. You're not old and neither am I."

Another thump in Percy's chest.

"We're gonna grow old together Neeks~"

A quiet shakey breath and another hard thump in Percy's chest.

"Stop being silly, Perce."  
He hadn't worked out at all today, so why was he so exhausted and sweaty right now.

The two brunettes ran around the camp, quietly roping up the rest of The Seven, making their secret plans to meet up at the camps border after the campfire.

 

"Okay, guys, I may have lied a little bit." Was how Nico started their evening.  
Everyone looked at him questioningly. It was dark out, and the boy was barely visable with the glow of the moon.  
"Just, grab on to me. It's gonna be good I promise."  
Of course Percy was the first to latch on, almost instantly trusting him. Within seconds of confused glances and wary grabs, Nico had shadow travelled everyone to an empty Allyway.

Nico hunched a little, catching his breath while looking up between Percy, Piper, and Jason while Leo and Annabeth were looking all around them.  
"Welcome to Las Vegas guys! Haha.."  
. . .

"Yo, why are we here?" Leo asked Nico, after he finally caught his breath.

"I told you, Hazel and Frank were gonna be in town, I didn't say which one." He smirked as he began to lead everyone outside the ally.  
"We've got special plans tonight, boys and girls, and I'm your tour guide during this quest."

At that single second, that single sight, Percy got a feeling in his stomach. It was almost something anxious but it excited him. He stood in the cold, dark ally, looking at Nico, whos arms were spread wide in front of the bright, lively exit into the main street where neon signs and people of all kinds roamed about. He felt big in this moment.

They made it to their supposed destination about an hour later, with only mild occurences. Multiple women had tried to take Jason home, and even an older man, who was obviously drunk, made a pass at Nico and Annabeth both.

"Welcome one and all, to Mickey's light house."  
Percy looked over the building, only a single sign illuminating it. This looked sketchy as all hell, but when Percy saw Hazel and Frank come outside and give Nico a big hug, everything was slightly less sketchy. 

"Wassup bitchessss" 

Okay, Percy conculded, Frank was very much drunk.  
"Frank! Gods- I'm sorry guys, you know he's a lightweight-" Leo cut Hazel off excitedly.  
"THIS JUST GOT TEN TIMES MORE FUN" Leo took Jason and Piper by the arms and quickly walked towards the entrance with Percy and Annabeth trailing.

"So like, what is this place?" Annabeth asked.  
As they walked in, the room was covered, floor to ceiling in bright red velvet, with a single fake plant in the corner, a yellow light built into the ceiling, and a few seats near the entrance.  
Hazel grinned up at the blonde, as the two left the others to wait while they walked up to the front desk.

"It's a light house!" She grinned, quickly continuing to explain further.  
"This place has different themes and speeds as to how you pick, but this place is run by only two people, and both are demigods. It's these two sisters, both daughters of Iris. They use their powers to bend the light in certain ways, and once its gone through panes of coloured glass and such, they can make such gorgeous works of art! They can even do small things with illusions-" before Hazel could finish, a tall brunette stepped out from the entrance to the rooms, smiling at the two.

"Hazel! Glad you could make it, made sure to save a few rooms for you and your friends." The girl smiled, making her way behind the desk.  
"Should I go ahead and explain how this all works to your friends?" Hazel nodded, Annabeth tried to keep up, but she got the basics of what Hazel had said.

The girl stood tall and explained the rules as simply as she could to the group of friends.  
"It's simple! You all have four rooms limited to you as of tonight. It's 11:30 now, we'd like to close up shop around 4 AM if that's okay with you all. The rooms are able to be locked by you, but only from people inside the room. Anyone outside can't get in," she walked away from behind the counter and made her way to the entrance, everyone trailing.

"Only my sister and I are able to get inside of those rooms incase someone believe something bad to be happening. We can't see anything clearly through the glass on our side, as we like to let everyone keep their privacy. Also some guests are into doing that kind of stuff.." she trailed off. Percy and Nico both elbowed each other, Percy quietly mumbling "Hah, you."

"Anyways, your rooms are placed in a circle, with only one exit. Each room is different, you can request what lights you want and their speed via a keypad in the rooms. All the glass is clear and only looks stained for the effect. Our lights are coloured so that everything moves in a way you can't get from regular stained glass. If you have any questions feel free to ask!" 

The doors opened into a large, chapel-like room, with a large, stain-glass window opened to this, shining a rainbow brightly across the room.  
"Snacks and drinks are in the room directly across from this one, she let us stock some special alcohol and ambrosia since we have these rooms reserved!" Exclaimed Hazel.

After that, all hell began to break lose. Everyone grouped off without meaning to. Piper, Annabeth, amd Hazel decided to stay in the room with the food and booze in order to catch up. The room was set up like a one story house, with wooden flooring and large windows and sliding glass doors, bedrooms and bathrooms, amd everything was fully functional. It was a greatly surreal room.  
Leo and Jason were running between the chapel and the second room. The second room was more horror based, with loud crashes of lightening on occasion, and long, dark hallways, followed by stair wells that went in every direction. Lights were used, but more so they used illusion magic to scare the boys. Frank was also there, but in his drunken state, he just saw in front of the large glass wall, laughing whenever they'd cry out in fear.

Percy had also sat and enjoyed the show of Leo and Jason, but soon found himself wandering out towards the third room. His stomach had done weird flips while they were in this building. He didn't feel in danger or uncomfortable. He felt as if he was in another world entirely.

It was cold, but bright, and it was like time wasn't real anymore, and that feeling kind of terrified Percy.

The brunette boy made his way into room three and instantly he felt his chest swell with emotions. The room was small in comparison to the others, like a large hallway in between rooms. Everything, aside from a middle pathway made of concrete, was made of different coloured glass that made the room swirl with colour. 

Percy stood for a second trying to catch his barings, but he lost them again when he heard someone speak.

"Wow.." percy looked straight ahead and met Nico's eyes. His eyes were so dark. Was it even possible to have eyes so dark they looked black? Nico did the impossible. 

"It's really pretty, right?" Percy smiled.  
Nico stood for a moment before turning back to his door, closing and locking it.  
"Hey man I feel like we're, like, about to have a really nice moment. Maybe lock your door?"  
Percy complied and turned back to lock it. 

The two sat down, cross legged against the wall of the room. There was clear glass between them and the stained glass on the floor, so it wasn't all weird and funky.  
"Jackson, this feels like such a weird place.."  
Thump.  
Not here, not where Percy's emotions are so raw.

"Don't you feel it too? Its cold, but not freezing, and if someone told me the time I'd probably forget what time even was. I don't feel real right now Percy. Isn't that crazy?" Nico laughed, looking at the other boy.

Thump. Thump.

"Yeah, I feel it too. I haven't felt like this since I was a kid.." Nico nodded at Percy's response.

"It's not fear. What could it be.." 

He looked at Nico's hair and thought about touching it.  
Thump.

Percy stood up quickly, making his way to the keypad.  
"Let's try this bad boy out!" Percy hoped Nico didn't hear his voice shake as his heart dropped as soon as he stood up.  
"Hit it to max, Jackson!" Nico called after a moment.

Thump.

Percy turned the speed dial all the way up, pressed every coloured button he could, and pressed enter.

The lights slow speed began to pick up. Nico stood up, walking to the concrete part of the room. He stood by Percy's side as the faced the door, and looked all arouns them. It was dizzying, everything was going by so fast. Reds and blues and pinks and greens and yellows, any colour Percy could think of sped by. 

If you'd asked Percy months later, he'd say he'd done it by choice. If you asked Percy right now, you'd know he grabbed Nico's hand because of the suspended bridge effect this room had going. His heart was beating so fast he could barely handle it. Nico turned quickly to the taller boy, surprised. Percy froze for a moment not sure what to do.

Then, the whole scene before him hit with a loud Thump.

He looked at Nico. He looked at the freckles against his pale skin. He looked at his messy dark brown hair, he wanted to touch it. 

Thump.

He looked at Nico's long eyelashes. Why were they so long?

Thump.

He felt Nico's hand in his. It was only slighty smaller than his, just as Nico was only slightly smaller than him now. His hand was calloused, yet again, only slightly less than his, and it felt warm and cold at the same time.

Thump. Thump.

He looked for a second at Nico's mouth. It was open a little, he could hear Nico's breath coming out in little puffs. What did lips feel like again, Percy wondered?

Thump. Thump, thump.

Everything went fast around them, making Nico's eyes glisten and glaze over. Everything about this moment was big. It was loud. It felt loud, but all Percy could hear was Nico's breath. 

"Percy.." Nico breathed out, his cheeks going slightly darker.

"Why're you so pretty, Neeks?" Percy found himself asking without meaning to. He caught his breath and took a step back, still holding Nico's hand.

A moment of silence.

"Percy, please no, ah shit please don't say that." Nico said weakly. Percy's heart fell.

"I-I'm sorry I just-"

"Why couldnt you say something like that during the war, Jackson... I wanna fucking give up on you once and for all but I can't when you're like this!" Nico tried to let go and back away; Percy wouldn't let him. It got quiet as the two looked at one another.

"Nico, I think I'm a narcissist." Percy began.  
Nico looked up, almost offended at the sudden change.

"I think I'm a narcissist, because every time you say my name I get happy, and feel like I'm on a cloud. I feel like I'm gonna be sick but in a really REALLY good way. I feel like words are just gonna fall out of me and I wanna hear you say my name more, and up until I actually said all this I really thought I was a narcissist but now that we're alone together, here in this room I really think.. I might be.." percy finally slowed and stopped his rambling, looking into Nico's eyes for anything. 

Nico looked embarassed beyond belief.  
It was quiet again aside from the low hum of the lights spinning.  
"Nico I think I've liked you for a long time now. Back during the Titan war, I didn't understand my feelings much, I was still a kid really, and so were you.. I did love Annabeth and I still do, but not in the way I used to think I did. Gods, I was obsessed with you Nico. You were so confusing and I couldn't understand anything about you, and I was so fucking infatuated with you but I thought it was some sick hobby I had, trying to decypher you.. I'm so sorry..."  
He couldn't hear his heart anymore.

Nico looked down, and they stayed in silence for a few minutes. 

"Percy.. Can we make this," Nico motioned between them both. "Work? Do you think it can work out in the best way possible?" Percy took Nico's other hand and squeezed it.

"Gods, I hope so."

Nico squeezed back.

Thump.

"Percy, can we kiss?"

Thump.

"Fuck, of course we can Neeks."

And just as soon as they had locked those doors, trusting each other so readily, they slammed their lips together. It was messy, it was raw, it was hot and sweaty and god it was everything they both thought it would ever be.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaa Percico always pulls me back in. Just an idea I had, still pretty rusty, hope you enjoyed it! Maybe if enough people like this I'll do a continuation based on ideas?


End file.
